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MILITARY SUCCESS FROM GOD 



SERMON, 



rilEACHED IN THE 



ELIOT CHURCH, ROXBURY, 



FAST DAY, APRIL 3, 1862, 



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^^ J^ BY 

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A. C. THOMPSON, D. D 




BOSTON: 

PRESS OF T. il. MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 
1862. 



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Roxbimj, April 8, 18G2. 
Rev. a. C. Thompson, D. D. 

Dear Sir, — "We listened to your Fast Day Sermon, given at the united 
service of the Dudley Street Baptist, Vine Street, and Eliot Congregations, 
with gi-eat interest and satisfaction. Desiring to have opportunity, ourselves, 
for a thorough perusal, and to give it a wider field of usefulness, we respect- 
fully solicit a copy for publication. We regard the Discourse as being replete 
with sentiments eminently fitted to promote, in our community, a holier 
patriotism, and a firmer trust in the God of battles. 
Very respectfully and affectionately yours, 



HENRY HILL, 
ALVAH KITTREDGE, 
WM, A. BOWDLEAR, 
J. S. ROPES, 
JOSIAH S. TAPPAN, 
C. B. PEVEAR, 



E. A. HOVEY, 

J. H. LESTER, 

D. B. RISING, 

J. WARREN TUCK, 

H. P. SHED, 

H. G. CROWELL. 



Roxbury, April 10, 1862. 
Gentlemen : 

The Sermon, of which you speak so kindly, is at your disposal, for the 
purpose named. No man is at liberty to withhold any coutributinn, however 
slight, which he can consistently make, to the cause of Christian patriotism, 
in a time like this. 



Very respectfully, yours, 



A. C. THOMPSON. 



Messrs. Henry Hill, 

Alvah Kittuedoe, 
w. a. bowdleaii, 

and others. 



SERMON. 



2 CHRONICLES xiv. 11. 

AND ASA CRIED UNTO THE LORD HIS GOD, AND SAID, LORD, IT IS NOTH- 
ING WITH THEE TO HELP, WHETHER WITH MANY, OR WITH THE5I THAT 
HAVE NO ROWER : HELP US, O LORD OUR GOD ; FOR WE REST ON THEE, 
AND IN THY NAME WE GO AGAINST THIS MULTITUDE. O LORD, THOU 
ART OUR GOD ; LET NOT MAN PREVAIL AGAINST THEE. 

Nex\rly one thousand years before our Saviour, 
the third king of Judah, whose name is here men- 
tioned, came to the throne. He was an honest, 
resokite, sagacious man ; after the type and with 
the spirit of David. He' did that which was right 
in the sight of God. 

Great disorders prevailed at his accession. He 
devoted himself to correcting these, rooting out 
idolatry and its attendant evils, replenishing an 
exhausted treasury, consolidating the government, 
securing internal unity and strength, and bringing 
the army into a more satisfactory condition than it 
had ever been before. The efficiency of his forces 
and of his faith was put to a severe test. From 



the South there came up an immense host of 
Ethiopians, headed by Zerah ; whose army num- 
bered nearly twice as many as that of Asa. They 
met in the vale of Zephathah, on the borders of 
the Philistines, who of course sympathized with 
these Southern invaders. What was to be done ? 
" Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said. Lord, 
it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, 
or with them that have no power : help us, O 
Lord our God ; for we rest on thee, and in thy 
name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou 
art our God ; let not man prevail against thee." 
What was the result] "The Lord smote the 
Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah ; and the 
Ethiopians fled. And Asa, and the people that 
were with them, pursued them unto Gerar : and the 
Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not 
recover themselves ; for they were destroyed before 
the Lord, and before his host ; for the fear of the 
Lord came upon them." 

That no possible room might be left for misap- 
prehension as to the source of Judah's success, 
" The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son 
of Odcd ; and he went out to meet Asa, and said 
unto him. Here ye me, Asa, and all Judah and 
Benjamin: The Lord is with you, w^iile ye be Avith 
him ; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you ; 



but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you." That 
victory was from the Lord, in answer to prayer ; 
and military successes, with civil prosperity, may 
always be expected according as a people obedi- 
ently and prayerfully look to God. 

This is a day for prayer on our part. Although 
usage has made it an anniversary, there is a 
present demand for supplication quite beyond any 
period through which the generation now living 
has passed. Recent achievements of the Federal 
arms do not remove occasion for fasting, humiliation 
and prayer. The end is not yet of those offenses 
which brought the judgment of civil war upon us, 
nor of the contest itself ; still less of the grave 
questions and responsibilities which must attend 
and ensue upon final adjustment. The local 
affairs of our City and Commonwealth give place 
in every one's thoughts to the great National issues 
which are pending. That we must look to the 
Lord our God for success, is the very evident sub- 
ject thus brought before us, which will be discussed 
in a manner as simple as the theme is obvious, and 
with a view to promote the great object of the day, 
humble, earnest, united petitions. 

Now that our force on land and water has 
attained such proportions, equipment and disci- 



pline ; now that our line of military operations 
exceeds that which any Government ever had occa- 
sion before to contemplate, equaling one-fifth of 
the circumference of the globe ; now that through- 
out that whole circuit of five thousand miles — 
a coronal of roaring artillery, gleaming bayonets, 
and eyes flashing with the fires of loyalty — success 
attends almost every movement of the girdle of 
terror while contracting and consolidating around 
rebellion ; it is natural that all eyes should fasten 
upon this seemingly irresistible agency ; that we 
should look for triumph as a certainty, and in 
some measure lose sight of our dependence upon 
Almighty God. Such a tendency is favored by 
theoretical as well as practical skepticism, in regard 
to special providence and the efficacy of prayer. 
This unbelief cuts the very sinews of supplication, 
and exposes to all the calamities suggested by 
Azariah when he said to Asa and Judah, " If ye 
forsake Him, he will forsake you." 

No teaching of God's word is plainer than that 
he maintains a universal, minute and constant 
superintendence over the aff'airs of earth ; a super- 
intendence embracing the operations of nature, to- 
gjether with the conduct and all the affairs of men. 
While his is a government of laws, we believe there 
is among those fixed laws no statute more legible 



than that they are all so related, are adjusted 
to such nice interacting, as that every particular 
occurrence shall come to pass without interference, 
yet often to appear as if by special interposition. 
We believe that among the firmly established 
ordinances of heaven is this, that prayer, indi- 
vidual and social, shall have power ; that events 
shall occur or not occur according as voluntary, 
appropriate supplication is or is not offered. We 
never think of asking God to change or suspend 
his laws ; they are so wonderfully arranged — and 
here is a broad, characteristic law of laws — that 
no appropriate petition shall fliil of its influence, 
and that none of his gracious intentions come 
short of fulfillment. The great wonder of all 
providence, and solution of all prayer is, that God 
so governs the world as, without change or miracle 
to bring about such marvelous results. What 
unreflecting men term chance, is only the unknown 
Ruler ; an accident, so called, is his ordinary still 
small voice raised louder. 

In the practical affairs of life and of religion, 
are two extremes to be avoided. One is an 
indolent enthusiam which, ignoring out"\vard means, 
is sheer presumption. To pray without putting 
forth suitable effort, is renouncing one set of God's 
establislied laws ; is to ask a miracle in behal. 



10 

of impertinence, and is a low insult to the 
Supreme Ruler. We must do what is required, 
if Ave venture to ask what we hope. Mohammed, 
over-hearing one of his followers, with whom 
he was encamping, say, " I will loose my camel, 
and commit it to God," suggested, " Friend, tie 
thy camel, and commit it to God." 

The opposite extreme — one much more fre- 
quent — is that prudence so common, which, ignor- 
ing Providence, refuses to pray at all. This 
atheistical sagacity is apt to he quite self- 
complacent, and to make merry in a kind of 
sly wit at the expense of those who reverently 
recognize God's government as extending to all 
his creatures and all their actions. It bandies 
the military maxim, that God always helps 
the heavy battalions. King Asa and some other 
divinely taught generals hold, " Lord, it is nothing 
with thee to help, whether with many, or with 
them that have no power." At the engagement 
in the vale of Zephathah there were a million 
of men, with three hundred chariots of war, — an 
army double in number, and no doubt better 
disciplined and equipped than that of Judah ; 
yet was it completely overthrown. God did not 
helj) the heavy battalions then, nor those of 
Sennacherib or of Shishak ; nor of Pharaoh at the 



11 

Red Sea. It was neither the heavy battalions 
of Midianites nor Israelites that God helped. 
" And the Lord said nnto Gideon, The people 
that are with thee are too many for me to give 
the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt 
themselves against me, saying. Mine own hand 
hath saved me." Gideon's army of two and thirty 
thousand had to be reduced to three hundred 
before it was small enough to make it appear 
beyond all question that their victory came from 
God. Important as is the question of numbers, 
armor, discipline and position, there is a weightier 
question : With whom does God side ? The 
grand strategic movement which won victory for 
Asa was his cry, " Help us, O Lord our God, 
for we rest on thee ; and in thy name we go 
against this multitude." 

The greatest results often depend upon appar- 
ently trivial causes — upon circumstances against 
which no human foresight or resources could 
provide. It is so on the field of battle, so in 
political affairs. A smooth stone from the brook, 
or a bow drawn at venture, may decide the result 
of an action. A war that continued many years, 
and in which nearly all the chief men engaged 
on both sides were cut off, arose from the shoot- 



12 

hig of a camel that had drunk at a forbidden well. 
It was staying to drink one draught of water that 
lost Lysimachus his kingdom. How trivial was 
the incident which precipitated one of the later 
French revolutions, the consequence of which is a 
changed aspect in the political affairs of Europe. 
Certain concessions were demanded from Louis 
Philippe. An obnoxious ministry resigned. That 
seemed to give universal satisfaction, and quiet the 
capital. There was no purpose of dethroning tlie 
monarch. In the evening of the same day, a 
procession of peaceable citizens was passing the 
quarters of the ministers, where a body of troops 
were stationed. At the moment of their passing, 
a gun in the hands of a soldier was accidentally 
discharged, wounding the horse of the comman- 
dant. Supposing the shot to have come from the 
citizens, he ordered his men to fire upon the 
people, when twenty of them fell dead, and forty 
more were wounded. Soon was the cry raised, 
" Down with the King." That accidental shot 
dethroned the monarch, introduced the republic, 
and cleared the way for the reigning emperor. 
The case of the Mortara boy at Bologna has had 
not a little to do in hastening subsequent revolu- 
tions and as we hope the regeneration of Italy. 
More potent than the single bullet is the single 



13 

ballot sometimes. One vote sent Oliver Cromwell 
to the Long Parliament, and Charles Stuart to the 
scaffold. The Hanoverian succession was carried 
by one vote, as was the Reform Bill of 1831. It 
is within the memory of us all, that one vote in 
the legislature of Indiana elected a certain man to 
the United States Senate. In the last named 
body — to which that individual belonged — one 
vote determined the annexation of Texas, pro- 
voked the Mexican war, and had its influence in 
bringing on the contest which rages at this time 
in our land. 

Now the falling sparrow, the hairs of our heads, 
and each projectile in war are under the eye and 
fulfill the appointment of Heaven. Well did King 
William of glorious memory use to say, " Every 
bullet has its billet." We see that results of the 
greatest magnitude stand connected with events in 
themselves most trivial. Indeed it would seem 
that in all great movements of society and actions 
in the field, as in the career of every individual's 
life, there is some one moment and some one cir- 
cumstance on which the whole turns. 

We are thus helped to understand, and are 
impressed by the fact that, as God makes so much 
to depend upon slight causes, in the natural, the 



14 

political, and the military world ; as he can, with 
such perfect ease, change the whole current of 
affairs, so may he in the moral, the spiritual world. 
Yes, the silent petition of some poor widow, or 
some praying child in this congregation to-day, 
may decide an issue on Chesapeake Bay, on the 
Kappahannock, or the Mississippi, more important 
than any that has yet occurred since the war 
commenced. It' is perhaps hardly probable, yet 
for aught that appears to the contrary, Asa was the 
only one who " cried unto the Lord his God, and 
said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether 
with many, or with them that have no power : 
help us, O Lord our God ; for we rest on thee." 
That prayer routed a million of men. What 
achievements would there not be in wielding this 
mighty engine of supplication, were there only 
faith in its efficacy, and each one prized aright the 
privilege, and felt the responsibility pertaining to 
him ! 

Two extremes have been spoken of — indolent 
presumption, and undevout activity. There is a 
golden mean ; it is to pray as if all depended upon 
prayer ; and then exert ourselves as if all depended 
upon effort. In the course of one chapter of his 
proverbs, Solomon says : " The hand of the dili- 



15 

gent maketh rich ; " and " The blessmg of the 
Lord maketh rich." So far from being- contradic- 
tory, these mntually confirm each other. If God 
do not bless, diligence is of no avail ; and on the 
other hand, his favor may not be expected or 
sought, if diligence be not employed. 

Now with respect to the affairs of our country, 
the first thing desired by all loyal hearts — and 
from such only can acceptable prayer arise, for "If 
I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not 
hear me ; " and is there a greater iniquity than 
treason ? — the first thing desired, is a satisfactory 
close to this civil war. No termination can be 
deemed such, without a complete removal of armed 
rebellion from every inch of United States' domain, 
be it land or water, be it cotton or corn-growing 
soil. But in enabling our Government to effect 
that, how broad is the margin of circumstances 
which Providence may order more or less auspi- 
ciously, according as prayer shall be offered or 
withheld ! Whether the contest is to be brought 
to a speedy close, or protracted for many months, 
if not years ; whether every remaining strong post 
shall be fiercely contested, or be yielded in a panic- 
stricken evacuation ; whether thousands of loyal 
soldiers shall yet fall in conflict, and other thou- 
sands by sickness, or not ; are points concerning 



16 

which wc may well send up petitions to the Great 
Arbiter of events. 

Assuming a successful conclusion to the struggle, 
there arise many questions, in thoughtful minds, 
with respect to the character, the subsequent 
course and influence of our own returned soldiers ; 
and the dominant state of feeling in that wide 
region which has been scathed by insurgent false- 
hood, false alarm and barbarizing hatred. New 
and vexing questions relative to readjustment, to 
alterations in the fundamental law of the land, 
and pre-eminently to the stupendous, all-related 
evil of slavery, will demand perhaps more wisdom 
and self-sacrifice than any juncture of our history 
hitherto. But into all these affairs the elements of 
unlooked-for difficulty or facility are now gather- 
ing, and will doubtless be apportioned somewhat 
in accordance with present prayer. 

Specially important is also the question. What 
will be the influence of this struggle upon our 
national character ? When more immediate and 
obvious results have been attained, what will be 
the permanent, resulting impress, as seen in the 
future life of the nation ? This is of unspeakably 
greater importance to us and to other countries 
than any })roblems of finance, or of a purely 



17 

social and political nature. The early reign of 
king Asa was marked by the waking up of the 
people to a new consciousness of their mission, by 
a reform in morals and manners, and by a revived 
religious sentiment. Shall such happy results 
be witnessed among us ? Providence never makes 
disproportionate preparation, nor uses excessive 
means ; and it is not to be supposed that God 
is subjecting us to such an ordeal as the present 
one, without a sufficient reason in the past, and 
an adequate object in the future. It is idle to 
deny that greed of gain, luxuriousness, an ostenta- 
tious, vain-glorious spirit have characterized us ; 
that genuine public spirit and integrity had 
declined ; that men of principle and ability were 
more and more withdrawing from active political 
life ; that patriotism had nearly died out ; that 
corruption and decay had come in fearfully upon 
the general Government, and that the national 
conscience had become torpid. Shall these evils 
only be aggravated, and others perhaps added to 
the unlovely catalogue ? Are we to become a 
military people ; grow more reckless and insolent 
than ever ; put on finery, and airs, and impudence 
in the great drawing-room of nations ; bluster 
among our neighbors, and wink at fillibustering 
generally ? or shall we acquire somewhat of self- 



18 

knowledge, and modesty, some new appreciation 
of right, some higher and nobler aspirations ? 
Shall uprightness, loyalty, magnanimity henceforth 
characterize people and government I 

" What constitutes a State r 
Xot high-raised battlement, or hiborcd mound. 

Thick wall or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud, A\ith spires and turrets cro\\ned ; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
AMierc, laughmg at the stonn, rich navies ride ; 

Not staiTcd and spangled courts, 
^\'hcrc loA\-browed baseness wafts pertiimc to pride. 

No : Men, high-minded men. 
With powers as far above dull brutes endued 

In forest, brake, or den. 
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; 

Men, who their diities know, 
But know then- rights, and knowing dare maintain. 

Prevent the long-auned blow, 
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain ; 

These constitute a State ; 
And sovereig-n Law, that State's collected will, 

O'er thrones imd globes elate 
Sits empress, croA\nnng good, repressing ill." 

(iod lias placed us in the severe seminary of 
war. It remains for us to improve the discipline 
by humiliation, fasting and prayer — prayer that 
we may learn profounder lessons of subordination 
to law, firmer maintenance of right, and a more 
unselfish devotion to the public good. 



19 

There is a question yet higher and more dis- 
tinctively Christian : AVhat are to be the religious 
results ? An eminent writer has said, " Civil wars 
leave nothing but tombs." Shall the struggle 
in which we are now engaged be attended and 
followed only by devastation ? Shall demoraliza- 
tion become general ? Shall a tendency toward 
irreligion and barbarism be strongly developed I 
It would seem that, on the part of rebels, loyal 
citizens of the United States and prisoners are 
often treated as only felons should be ; that with 
the spirit of the savage and the jackall, even 
graves are rifled, and that too for purposes at 
which the aborigines of our land might blush. 
The war of the revolution left our country in a 
de})lorable condition, religiously. Infidelity and 
intemperance were rampant. The war of 1812, 
and that with Mexico, had a deteriorating effect. 
The fact that our existing conflict is so different 
in its origin, and in the issues at stake, does not 
of itself simply insure us a blessing. Is there 
no danger that we shall rest upon the clear and 
mere justness of our cause, deeming success a 
certainty, proudly regarding ourselves as special 
favorites of Heaven, and scornfully looking upon 
all rebels as the only sinners in the land? If so, 
God will scourge us with something worse than 



20 

civil war. A good cause may be injured, indeed 
may be ruined, by the delinquencies of its sup- 
porters ; and that is the most disheartening of 
calamities. Prosperity is often more disastrous 
than previous peril. 

Some years after their victory over Zerah, good 
king Asa and the people of Judah appear to have 
lost ground in patriotic and religious character : 
" At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king 
of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast 
relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the 
Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of 
Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the 
Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very 
many chariots and horsemen ? yet, because thou 
didst rely on the Lord he delivered them into thine 
hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro 
throughout the whole earth, to shew himself 
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is per- 
fect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly : 
therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 
Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him 
in a prison-house ; for he was in a rage with him 
because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some 
of the people the same time. And Asa in the 
thirty and ninth year of his reign, was diseased in 
his feet, initil his disease was exceeding great ; yet 



21 

in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to 
the physicians." Of Uzziah, one of his successors, 
we read : " He was marvellously helped till he was 
strong ; but when he was strong, his heart was 
lifted up to his destruction ; for he transgressed 
against the Lord his God;' 

Physiologists tell us there is a period in youth 
when the character of the constitution is deter- 
mined, and on which its future sanity revolves. 
In our youthful life, as a people, we have probably 
reached that point. It can hardly be otherwise, 
than that from this epoch, onward, our national 
character will assume a more distinctive and per- 
manent type. "What shall it be I What peculiar 
signature shall this contest leave upon the present 
generation, and transmit to generations yet unborn I 
Shall our remaining life be a sickly, waning exist- 
ence, yielding little comfort to ourselves, and less 
to other nations "? Or shall we, God helping us, 
apprehend our mission for this continent and the 
world ; lay out ourselves for the great work of 
fortifying free institutions ; publishing the blessed 
gospel ; and thus, beyond any other nation, become 
a glory and blessing to mankind ? That is to be 
determined, mainly, by the sincerity and earnest- 
ness of our cry, " Lord, it is nothing with thee to 



22 

help, whether with many, or with them that have 
no power : help us, O Lord our God ; for we rest 
on thee, and in thy name we go against this mul- 
titude." 

It is possible for Him — we devoutly desiring it 
— to make this outbreak the greatest blessing to 
us, and to the world, since our Lord and Saviour 
came to send a sword and kindle a fire. During 
the siege of Sebastopol, a Russian shell, burying 
itself in a hillside, opened a spring. A stream of 
pure cold water bubbled forth, and continued to 
supply the allied troops of that neighborhood. 
God caused the first shot thrown at Fort Sumter 
to unseal a fountain which has flowed strong and 
refreshing to the present hour. He can make 
every deadly missile yet to be thrown, on either 
side, too, a messenger of mercy. In order to that, 
prayer must give it range. 

My friends — friends of three neighboring churches 
— from our united devotions here, let us go to our 
private abodes still to pray. At the appointed 
hours, let us assemble in our respective places of 
associated supplication, in humble reliance upon 
the mercy of God through the Great mediating 
Hiiih Priest. 



23 

And where a beloved Pastor retires — who now 
shares with ns in his last public official service 
in this city, and who carries with him the hearts 
and devout good wishes of us all — may the 
Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls be especially 
present.* 

By all the momentous national issues of the 
hour ; by all the anxieties of maternal and other 
yearning hearts in our land ; by the sighing and 
hopiug of oppressed thousands in other lands ; by 
all that is commanding in true nobility of charac- 
ter, a vigorous, sanctified philanthropy and whole- 
hearted loyalty to Jesus Christ, pour out your 
hearts to God, — " T.ord, it is nothing with thee to 
help, whether with many, or with them that have 
no power : help us, O Lord our God, for Ave rest 
on thee." 



* The Rev. Thomas D. Anderson, D. D., of the Dudley Street Baptist 
Chureh, Pastor elect of the First Baptist Church, Broome Street, New 
York. 



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